Underbelly is a non-verbal somatic practice (embodied meditation) where we reclaim our slow in a fast and overwhelming world. Our dominant culture survives on speed, which keeps problematic and oppressive structures in place at the devastating cost of our well-being and planetary health. Underbelly is a somatic response to the loss of slowness in an increasingly urgent world drowning in climate collapse, AI threat, technological addiction, diseased capitalism and polarization, as well as historical nervous system trauma from continuing racism, colonialism, and patriarchy. It's time to acknowledge that we are standing at a terrifying precipice. Instead of pushing through injury or confusion, we cultivate a willingness to know things as they stand. It's time to surrender the rush and instead, show up with our heartbreak to encounter what is becoming. It's time to dismantle the hurry and have a conversation with the present moment.
This practice helps us explore the art of slowing down with ourselves, each other, and our current environment. There is space to metabolize our emotions, strengthen empathy and intuition, and develop an intimate relationship with our bodies and the world around us. We practice being in the questions themselves- listening and yielding to the intelligence of life without pushing, controlling, or fixing. Room is made for nuance, complexity and paradox. Our individuation and togetherness are felt in a group field—deepening our presence and attunement with one another, co-regulating our nervous systems, being held, witnessed, considered, and noticed exactly as we are. We meet ourselves AS IS, without grasping for more, escaping, transcending, or resigning. We re-learn what it is to be relational instead of transactional. To commune instead of consume. To be of service instead of self-serving. To rest back into more vastness and organicity, releasing tight circuits of linearity, programming and conditioning we've inherited or been entrained to. Spend quality time with your body, breath, and being. Come back to the foundations. Sink back into reverence. Voyage beneath the surface of our fast culture, and dive into a slow sanctuary for unearthing what is alive, tender, and honest for you in every moment. This experience is not a solution, method, workshop or teaching of tools. It is not a business, ceremony, or ecstatic dance. It is an experimental and somatic gathering space that supports bodily intelligence, nervous system co-regulation, ample rest, and radical self/community care. We incrementally and progressively nourish the foundational fabric of how we relate, strengthen the connective tissue of our humanity, and allow ourselves to remember what we have forgotten. This work is not done through grand gestures or patterns of immediacy, but rather, subtle...steady...patient...little steps.Every Underbelly experience varies depending on what is alive in the group field at that given time. All movement forms are welcome (authentic/personal movement, sensory/somatic movement, contact (improv) inspired movement etc). So is resting, pausing, meditating, stillness, witnessing etc. Participants may explore being solo, in negative space (proximity without touch) or discovering connection with others through consensual energy and/or touch. No prior experience necessary, just an open mind/heart.
Music: emotional, slow, deep, meditative, experimental, film scores, nature sounds, ambient, soulful, silent, and live. Listen on Spotify!
When/Where: Join the mailing list to get all the invites!
**Weekly Bay Area Underbelly's will be paused (June-August 2024, but back again in September 2024).
1) In the meantime, Underbelly will be at Northern California Dance Camp, June 17-22nd! Register here
2) NYC Underbelly pop up in Brooklyn on July 3rd: register here
What to Expect: 1) Arrival (container will CLOSE 15 min after start time, please show up on time! Leaving early is permitted): This is a time to unwind on your own and find your way into your body. 2) 40 minute facilitated opening (guided somatic meditation, helping the body have a conversation with the present moment) 3) Deep dive (a time for your own body to guide you while immersed in music) 4) Facilitated closing (closing meditation and simply being with one another in the quiet)
Contribution ~Sliding scale: $15 and up (pay at the door) ~$15 helps cover our rental space. Anything over is your contribution to those experiencing financial hardship and a donation to the facilitator. Give what allows you to feel generous, not contracted. ~If you are experiencing financial hardship, please let us know, no one will be turned away. ~Pre-pandemic passes no longer valid/no refunds. ~Ways to contribute: 1) Venmo: @amy-rogg (last 4 phone digits 0330). When sessions are at The Alembic, you'll pay them: @BerkeleyAlembic 2) Paypal: payment link here 3) Cash 4) Support us on Patreon
Covid Protocol: ~Please do not attend if you have been exposed or have symptoms. ~Rapid/antigen testing always encouraged. ~Mask as needed.
About the Creator: Amy Rogg (she/her) is an activator and nurturer of the human spirit. She is half Taiwanese/half Jewish, born in Denver Colorado and raised mostly in the Bay Area. She is the conduit, creator, and facilitator of Underbelly: The Art of Slowing Down. Amy has a B.A. in television/film production, studied acting/improv in Los Angeles, and is currently training to become a clinical herbalist. She has taught yoga (E-RYT 500), meditation, and somatic/relational movement for over a decade. Some of her inspirations: nature, Hakomi, Continuum, The Artist's Way, Movement Liberation, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen Jenkinson, Gabor Maté, Paul Bergner, Heather Luna, Anna Halprin, Resmaa Menakem, Sarah Blondin, Bill Plotkin, Marc-André Leclerc, Jeong Kwan, Yat Malmgren, David Whyte, Qi Gong, Yoga, GAGA, Contact Improvisation/Underscore, Fusion/Microfusion, Open Floor, Soul Motion, Dancing Freedom, 5 Rhythms, Ecstatic Dance, romantic relationships, and her mama (in spirit). Instagram: @amyrogg Facebook page: here
Please read the Underbelly Code of Conduct and Logistics here